DOOR LATCH WITH EMERGENCY LOCK ACTUATOR AND 'IMPATIENT PASSENGER' FEATURE
In one aspect, the invention is directed to a closure latch for a vehicle door. The closure latch includes an emergency lock actuator to permit a person to lock the door in the event that the power lock actuator is unusable. The latch also includes an ‘impatient passenger’ feature, which permits the doors to be unlocked using the remote keyless-entry feature on the key fob even in a situation where an ‘impatient passenger’ had prematurely lifted the door handle of the vehicle. In some prior art latches, such an action by an ‘impatient passenger’ would prevent the drive motor on the latch from unlocking the latch, thereby necessitating the owner to press the unlock button on the key fob a second time. There is some overlap in the components that used for the ‘impatient passenger’ feature and the components used for the emergency lock actuator, thereby reducing cost and complexity of the latch.
The present invention relates to a closure latch for a vehicle door, and more particularly to a closure latch having both an emergency lock actuator and an ‘impatient passenger’ feature.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONSome vehicle door closure latches equipped with a primary lock actuator (eg. a power lock actuator), also include an emergency lock actuator that can be used in the event of a failure of the primary lock actuator. Some latches also includes other features, such as, for example, an ‘impatient passenger’ feature. Such a feature permits the latch to be unlocked by the lock actuator motor even if an ‘impatient passenger’ had lifted the door handle prior to the vehicle owner actuating the motor. Such features, while beneficial to have, increase the cost and complexity of the latch, however.
It would be beneficial to provide a closure latch that provided these features, but that was relatively less complex.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONIn one aspect, the invention is directed to a closure latch for a vehicle door. The closure latch includes an emergency lock actuator to permit a person to unlock the door in the event that the power lock actuator is unusable. The latch also includes an ‘impatient passenger’ feature, which permits the doors to be unlocked using the remote keyless-entry feature on the key fob even in a situation where an ‘impatient passenger’ had prematurely lifted the door handle of the vehicle. In some prior art latches, such an action by an ‘impatient passenger’ would prevent the drive motor on the latch from unlocking the latch, thereby necessitating the owner to press the unlock button on the key fob a second time. There is some overlap in the components that used for the ‘impatient passenger’ feature and the components used for the emergency lock actuator, thereby reducing cost and complexity of the latch.
In a particular embodiment, the invention is directed to a closure latch for a vehicle door. The latch includes a ratchet, a pawl, an outsider door release lever, a lock link and a lock link driver. The ratchet is movable between an open position and a closed position and is biased towards the open position. The pawl is movable between a ratchet locking position wherein the pawl holds the ratchet in the closed position and a ratchet release position wherein the pawl permits the ratchet to move to the open position. The pawl is biased towards the ratchet locking position. The outside door release lever is movable between a home position and an actuated position. The outside door release lever is biased towards the home position. The lock link is movable between an unlocking position and a locking position. The lock link is biased towards the unlocking position by a lock link biasing member. When the lock link is in the unlocking position movement of the outside door release lever to the actuated position drives the pawl to the ratchet release position. When the lock link is in a locking position the outside door release lever is operatively disconnected from the pawl and movement of the outside door release lever to the actuated position prevents movement of the lock link from the locking position to the unlocking position. The lock link driver is movable between an unlocking position and a locking position. The lock link driver is operatively connected to the lock link through a slot-and-pin connection such that when the lock link driver is in the locking position the lock link is in the locking position, and when the lock link driver is in the unlocking position the lock link is urged towards the unlocking position by the lock link biasing member. When the lock link is prevented from movement to the unlocking position by the outside door release lever in the actuated position, movement of the outside door release lever to the home position permits movement of the lock link to the unlocking position under the urging of the lock link biasing member. The lock link driver includes a manual rotation feature thereon for manual rotation of the lock link driver at least to the unlocking position, wherein the manual rotation feature is accessible from the exterior of the vehicle door.
In another aspect, the invention is directed to a closure latch for a vehicle door that includes an emergency lock actuator that is integrated into the lock/unlock chain (ie. the chain of components involved in locking and unlocking the latch) without necessitating the need for many additional components.
The present invention will now be described by way of example only with reference to the attached drawings, in which:
Reference is made to
The ratchet 12 is movable between a closed position (
The pawl 14 is movable between a ratchet locking position (
The outside door release lever 16 is movable by a cable from an outside door handle between a home position and an actuated position, and is biased towards the home position by an outside door release lever biasing member 32.
The lock link 18 is movable between an unlocking position (
When the lock link 18 is in the locking position, shown in
The lock link 18 has an arm 36 that is captured in a slot 38 of the lock link driver 20. The lock link driver 20 is pivotable between an unlocking position (
Referring to
With reference to
With reference to
During use of the vehicle latch 10 the situation illustrated in
This structure (ie. the slot 38 and pin 36 connection between the lock link 18 and the lock link driver 20, and the lock link biasing member 34 for biasing the lock link 18 to its unlocking position) together make up the ‘impatient passenger’ structure 26.
The lock link driver 20 (
In the embodiment shown, driving the lock link driver 20 manually by means of the emergency lock actuator 24 causes the sector gear member 46 (
As can be seen in
The lock link driver 20 with the integral manual rotation feature 54 that is accessible from the exterior of the door 11 (eg. from the door edge as shown in
Referring to
While the above description constitutes a plurality of embodiments of the present invention, it will be appreciated that the present invention is susceptible to further modification and change without departing from the fair meaning of the accompanying claims.
Claims
1. A closure latch for a vehicle door, comprising:
- a ratchet movable between an open position and a closed position and biased towards the open position;
- a pawl movable between a ratchet locking position wherein the pawl holds the ratchet in the closed position and a ratchet release position wherein the pawl permits the ratchet to move to the open position, and wherein the pawl is biased towards the ratchet locking position;
- an outside door release lever movable between a home position and an actuated position, wherein the outside door release lever is biased towards the home position;
- a lock link movable between an unlocking position and a locking position, wherein the lock link is biased towards the unlocking position by a lock link biasing member, wherein when the lock link is in the unlocking position movement of the outside door release lever to the actuated position drives the pawl to the ratchet release position, and wherein when the lock link is in a locking position the outside door release lever is operatively disconnected from the pawl and movement of the outside door release lever to the actuated position prevents movement of the lock link from the locking position to the unlocking position; and
- a lock link driver movable between an unlocking position and a locking position, wherein the lock link driver is operatively connected to the lock link through a slot-and-pin connection such that when the lock link driver is in the locking position the lock link is in the locking position, and when the lock link driver is in the unlocking position the lock link is urged towards the unlocking position by the lock link biasing member,
- wherein when the lock link is prevented from movement to the unlocking position by the outside door release lever in the actuated position, movement of the outside door release lever to the home position permits movement of the lock link to the unlocking position under the urging of the lock link biasing member,
- and wherein the lock link driver includes a manual rotation feature thereon for manual rotation of the lock link driver at least to the unlocking position, wherein the manual rotation feature is accessible from the exterior of the vehicle door.
2. A closure latch as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a power lock actuator, wherein the power lock actuator includes an electric motor that is operatively connected to the lock link driver.
3. A closure latch as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a key cylinder operatively connected to the lock link driver such that rotation of the key cylinder rotates the lock link between the locking and unlocking positions.
4. A closure latch as claimed in claim 1, wherein the manual rotation feature is accessible from an edge face of the door, such that the manual rotation feature is inaccessible from outside the vehicle and from inside the vehicle when the door is closed.
5. A closure latch as claimed in claim 1, wherein the manual rotation feature is a tool-receiving feature.
6. A closure latch as claimed in claim 5, wherein the manual rotation feature is a slot on the lock link driver.
7. A vehicle comprising:
- a vehicle body;
- a first door and a second door,
- wherein the first door contains a first vehicle latch, including a ratchet movable between an open position and a closed position and biased towards the open position;
- a pawl movable between a ratchet locking position wherein the pawl holds the ratchet in the closed position and a ratchet release position wherein the pawl permits the ratchet to move to the open position, and wherein the pawl is biased towards the ratchet locking position;
- an outside door release lever movable between a home position and an actuated position, wherein the outside door release lever is biased towards the home position;
- a lock link movable between an unlocking position and a locking position, wherein the lock link is biased towards the unlocking position by a lock link biasing member, wherein when the lock link is in the unlocking position movement of the outside door release lever to the actuated position drives the pawl to the ratchet release position, and wherein when the lock link is in a locking position the outside door release lever is operatively disconnected from the pawl and movement of the outside door release lever to the actuated position prevents movement of the lock link from the locking position to the unlocking position; and
- a lock link driver movable between an unlocking position and a locking position, wherein the lock link driver is operatively connected to the lock link through a slot-and-pin connection such that when the lock link driver is in the locking position the lock link is in the locking position, and when the lock link driver is in the unlocking position the lock link is urged towards the unlocking position by the lock link biasing member,
- wherein when the lock link is prevented from movement to the unlocking position by the outside door release lever in the actuated position, movement of the outside door release lever to the home position permits movement of the lock link to the unlocking position under the urging of the lock link biasing member,
- and wherein the lock link driver includes a manual rotation feature thereon for manual rotation of the lock link driver at least to the unlocking position, wherein the manual rotation feature is accessible from the exterior of an edge face of the first vehicle door,
- and wherein the second door contains a second vehicle latch and a key cylinder operatively connected to the second vehicle latch by a mechanical connection for unlocking and locking the second vehicle latch from the outside of the vehicle.
Type: Application
Filed: Feb 24, 2011
Publication Date: Aug 25, 2011
Patent Grant number: 8522583
Inventors: Francesco CUMBO (Pisa), Luca BIGAZZI (Ponsacco)
Application Number: 13/034,662
International Classification: E05B 65/20 (20060101); E05C 3/14 (20060101); E05B 47/00 (20060101); B60J 5/06 (20060101);